As mentioned back in April, I had assisted Julien’s Auctions in cataloging “The James L. Schoppe Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Production Archive” that was featured in their “Hollywood Legends” auction this past weekend at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The highlight of the collection was an original Han Solo blaster movie prop from Return of the Jedi; James Schoppe served as the Art Director on the film, and was gifted several original props at the conclusion of the film production. The collection was sold in live auction on Saturday, June 23rd, and the Han Solo blaster sold for $550,000 including Buyer’s Premium, and the winning bidder was Ripley’s Believe it or Not. I was actually present for the auction, as well as shot video of some of the lots, so I thought I would share a few thoughts as well as the video of the Han Solo blaster selling
Funny enough, it was 11 years ago now that I was present for the World Famous Stembridge Armory Collection auction by Little John’s Auction Service in Los Angeles in 2007, in which one of the other original Han Solo blasters was sold at auction. That was the blank firing version, and it sold for $201,600 with Buyer’s Premium. You can read my accounting of that auction here:
As mentioned, I helped with cataloging the entire James Schoppe collection for this auction by Julien’s Auctions, which you can read about here:
With the “Hollywood Legends” sale by Julien’s on Saturday, the Star Wars section was set for the very end of the auction, with over 40 lots from James Schoppe closing things out.
In addition to the Han Solo blaster, there were two additional movie props – an Ewok axe and a Biker Scout blaster. One thing I learned in talking with Mr. Schoppe is that the Biker Scout design is something that he came up with during production, and George Lucas himself chose that design among other ideas and that is what was duplicated for use in the film.
In addition to the three props were many other lots of original production paperwork and photos that captured much of the behind the scenes work that went into creating the film. Mr. Schoppe himself was the one behind the cameras (also auctioned) for many of the photos sold in the auction.
As a note, the Star Wars collection was all offered at no reserve. So if the highest bid on an item was $1, it would have sold for $1. The lowest selling lots went for $192 including Buyer’s Premium, with the idea that anyone who wanted something had a chance.
In addition, Mr. Schoppe was present at the auction. I’m not aware of any other high end Star Wars piece offered at public auction in which the consignor was a principal from the production and was not only involved in publicly bringing it to sale, but was also available for press and present on auction day as well.
The Biker Scout blaster was the first prop to come up for sale. It had a pre-sale estimate of $20,000-$30,000, and phone bidders drove the price up significantly past that estimate, ultimately selling for $90,625 including Buyer’s Premium. This exceeded my own expectations, and I think potentially sets a new benchmark for blasters not associated with main characters in the original trilogy.
The Ewok axe came next among the three props, and it realized $11,250 including Buyer’s Premium.
There was a lot of excitement in the room once the Han blaster came up for auction. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the pre-sale estimate was $300,000-$500,000. Given that the last authentic hero Han Solo blaster sold for about $200,000 over ten years about, I thought that the high estimate seemed about right. Pre-sale online bidding had already taken the price up to $150,000.
The action that followed on the high end was between two phone bidders. The bidding stopped at $450,000 and that is where the hammer came down, resulting in a sale price of $550,000 with Buyer’s Premium. Immediately the winning bidder was revealed to be Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Last year, Ripley’s paid $450,000 at auction for a lightsaber prop attributed to use by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
Below is an iPhone video I took of the Han Solo blaster section of the auction:
You can check out the descriptions and results of all of the Star Wars props sold in this auction on the official Julien’s Auctions website for their live auctions and Julien’s Live: LINK
All in all, I enjoyed watching the results of the auction, and hope that those who were interested in a piece of history from someone who helped make the film were able to win something. It was a real privilege and honor to meet and work with Mr. Schoppe on his amazing archive of memorabilia related to his work on Return of the Jedi, and I am pleased that the Han Solo blaster is part of a collection that will be shared with the public in the future.
Jason DeBord